1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to quality control systems and more particularly to new imaging, data processing, signal processing and fuzzy logic-based techniques as applied to an apparatus and method for counting automatically the number of pillings present in fabric samples for quality control purposes.
2. Discussion
Textile fabrics vary widely in thickness, texture and color patterns. To insure the quality of such fabrics, textile manufacturers utilize human inspectors to manually inspect samples of finished bolts of fabric. These inspectors utilize a rating system to classify the samples, with Class 1 rating being the lowest, or poorest quality rating and Class 5 rating being the highest, or best quality rating.
One of the major areas of concern for textile manufacturers is the number of pillings associated with a particular piece of fabric subsequent to the fabric being subjected to repeated washings. From a quality control standpoint, different types of fabric have different associated acceptable pilling counts. Typically, the more pillings present on the surface of the fabric, the lower the quality of the fabric.
Inspectors have for years used a subjective visual inspection method of determining the rating of these pieces of fabric. Human error is inherently introduced into such a system, as inspectors must subjectively determine the quality of the fabric through their own visual inspection. As a result, different inspectors may have their own individual idea of what constitutes a Class 1 rating, Class 2 rating, Class 3 rating, Class 4 rating, or Class 5 rating. Therefore, a single piece of fabric may be given a different rating by each of the several inspectors rating that piece of fabric. Inherently, such a rating system tends to produce inconsistent quality control results.
Therefore, what is needed is an apparatus and method for producing a more objective analysis of textile fabrics to ensure more consistent quality control ratings for the fabrics, and therefore a better overall quality control system.